Six ways to make a child a reader

In an article ‘Every day, Every child’ by Richard Allington and Rachael E Gabriel, the authors provide six research-based elements of instruction that every child should experience every day.

1. Every child reads something he or she chooses
2. Every child reads accurately at 98 per cent
3. Every child reads something he or she understands
4. Every child writes about something personally meaningful
5. Every child talks with peers about reading and writing
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud

I am sure that most of us will agree with the efficacy of these elements.

Let’s consider the second element, in particular. Every child reads accurately at 98 per cent means that every day every child should have a time set aside to read a text at 98 per cent accuracy. This means a student may be learning from a text at 90 to 95 per cent accuracy, but there should also be time for easy reading. Some struggling readers are always reading hard texts, which can be exhausting for them.